Cookie cutter wine

Last week, the New York Times had an interesting article about Enologix, a consulting company you can hire who will get you a 90-plus point wine (registration required, use Bugmenot if you need to). Well, a 90-point wine in the Parker style. Once I finally got a chance to read it, I thought it was pretty interesting, since I am reading David Darlington's book Zin, and McCloskey just popped up in that book, albeit back in the late 1980's. McCloskey was touting the same wine science back then, and pitted (in the book) against Ravenswood's Joel Peterson, who has a completely different idea of wine (less scientific, more traditional).

I admit to being on the "let the grapes do what they will" side of the winemaking fence, and think less (meddling) is more, and it makes me sad that there is an entire company out there devoted to making a "Style 4" wine. I guess it doesn't really make me sad, but I don't get it. But then I don't get fans of fabricated bands, either. I find that the type of wine I like and drink varies depending on the situation and my mood, and if I were relegated to a world of high alcohol, overextracted, fruity wines, I would be very unhappy. It isn't that I never drink these wines or sometimes don't enjoy them, but focusing only on those types of wine to make a buck is probably pretty boring for the winemaker (it's like telling a painter "you will paint this painting, over and over, exactly"). Luckily, there are a lot of people out there who are not forcing their grapes into a particular mold, and I applaud them.

I guess I think of winemaking as more of an art than a science, and while I don't argue that a lot of science is involved, I wouldn't want to remove all art from it, either.

Comments

[Kieca]

I think a lot of the things you do are interesting, at least what I've read of them (the brief discussion of pigments in various grapes/wines in the Darlington book was something I thought fascinating and mean to look into more, just out of curiosity). I understand that there is a huge gray area (perhaps it is all a gray area) when it comes to making wine....all wine is made via manipulation of some sort, whether it be through a more scientific method or a less scientific one. In the end, it is all chemistry, after all. And it appears that you and your company are very good at what you do.

If one of your customers wanted to make a wine that is not fruit driven or high alcohol (a non "style 4" wine), do you help them make that? And do you really think wine can be reduced to four styles? (I just checked out the section in The Accidental Conoisseur about the company and that bit makes what Enologix does seem less single-minded than the article... it makes it seem that you are not focusing on one particular style of wine, but that you helping to make the wine that the winery wants to make but maybe hasn't figured out how to, yet. Or make the wine the winery wants to make regardless of the grapes.

However, I guess I still find it sad (and I am not directing this at you, but at the wine world at large, and look, I am part of that problem, too) that so much emphasis and craziness are put on wine scores (just like music, with the hits and chart positions and whatnot). Chasing a 90-plus point Parker score seems a bad reason to be making wine, but that's just the romantic in me, I suppose. Winemakers need to make profits, after all. All that said, I am still glad there are people out there toiling away making crazy wines, sedate wines, interesting wines, monster wines, wines Parker doesn't rate well, all kinds of wines.

So my question to you is how much of a role do you think grape characteristics and terroir have in winemaking? Are grapes just raw material to be manipulated at will or are there limits to how much manipulation can go on? You couldn't, for instance, make something that tastes like Pinot Noir out of Cabernet Sauvignon (or could you), but how much attention should one pay to the land and the characteristics of the land and climate inherent in the grapes themselves? Or do those things not matter?

[Leo McCloskey]

Gentlemen. We were completely honest in our story, genuine too. My sense is to be completely honst with the media. One result is that when consumers read about Enologix , the story is disruptive. Why? Again, it;s my sense, but as a wine professional I must alert you to the fact that there is a culture of the cover-up in the wine industry when it comes to a given winemaker's modern methods. The truth is that the benchmarks by which we all judge wines are made with modern methods; to boot, the winemakers are hiding this fact because they have been punished by both the National Critics and Wine Press. So most winemakers do not reveal what is really quite ordinary cafe society talk in the wine industry. You should know that all of us at Enologix are professionals, with considerable experience, in making the world's finest wines. Modern winemakers, and proud of it.

[Lenn]

I couldn't agree more. I'm the same way...different wines in different moods/situations/meals.

In fact, recently I had a non-wine geek friend ask me what my favorite kind of wine is.

I couldn't answer him. Once forced to pick something, I said quality German Riesling...which shocked him given the ammount of NY wine I drink. Fact is, I can find great things about so many different varietals and styles...I hate to limit myself...and I won't :)